the Man in the Catho-Ray Suit

[sgt.null]

04/30 : I never thought about the dreams much until I started seeing the graffiti around town. At first it was a phrase here or there; "spin the bottle" or "vacuum tubes." I thought it odd, but kept on with whatever I was doing. Then I found the words Mechanical Coke Bottle spray-painted onto the hood of my car.

Dream #458 : Standing by the door, open and twisted against myself. See him leaning against the mirror. His suit is glass and lighted with vacuum tubes. He echoes old radio shows. He moves against the mirror, trapped in his reflection. Fumbling around in hi suit, he pulls out a bottle. (Mechanical and syrupy.) Places the bottle on the floor. spins it round and round, settling slowly. Pointing at me. I hear the Clown laughing.

05/06: Decided to tell my best (only) friend about this. He just laughed at first. Then he told me some of his dreams about fish.

Couldn't sleep when I got home.

[sgt.null]

Dream #517 : I hear a pounding in the background. Standing in the center of a ballroom. Footsteps echo, a dull thudding, pounding. He walks towards me. Slow motion halfsteps. Vacuum tubes rattling. I hear the pound, pound, pounding. Spinning in his arms, the room is spinning, we are dancing.

05/12 : First noticed the homeless guy. He was preaching in my neighborhood. A crowd had gathered, a crowd of strangers. They had gathered around in a detatched circle as he stood in his shopping cart. Ranting some nonsense about vacuum tubes and a bottle, coke bottle. He kept shouting that the worlds were colliding. Pounding in my head grew louder the longer I listened. Finally the police showed up to drag him off. Leaving his cart empty and untouched. Waited till everyone returned to their routines before searching his (overturned) cart. Some journals were of interest. Sketches of stickmen in battle, what seemed to be poems about bodies of water. Hard to tell as his handwringing was hard to decipher. I kept the journals and some sketches I found rolled up in a canvas tote.

Still having trouble sleeping. Need to see my doctor.

[sgt.null]

05/15 : Started getting strange phone calls at work. Maybe.

05/16 : Phone bill arrived this morning. Listed lots of calls to towns in New Hampshire. I don't know anyone in New Hampshire. Phone company wasn't much help. Tried all of the numbers but got no answer at any of them. Dreamt about fish that night.

05/23 : My cat hasn't been home in two weeks. Thinking about putting up flyers. Found a letter from the DMF under my apartment door. Some sort of political group from the looks of it, asking for donations. I sent in four bucks. Can't remember where I parked my car.

Dream #43 : Open Window, cat jumps through. Catho-ray tubes litter the apartment. Floor tilts under me as I fall through the open window.

05/26 : Remembered that I don't own a cat.

[sgt.null]

06/04 Got a letter from the library today. Says I need to return the book and pay a fine, or risk losing my library card. The book is titled The Schoolmen of New Hampshire.

Dream # 17 : The metallic, orange rays of dawn creep through the smoldering darkness; burning away the sodium haze. My personal gravity shifts, sways and I am lifted into the grey rust of sky. Flying along the edge of day, I pass floating animals and distant color. Speeding along the dull borders of time as dusty dogs bark warnings, silent and vague. Phasing in and out of form, drifting towards the magnetic pull of life. As the light fades to a sharp shadow. I rain upon the cold, hard earth with the trudging of my heartbeat echoing in the chloroform dusk.